The regulars at the Agua Caliente poker room near Palm Springs are the best group of guys I’ve ever played with -- all eight at the table were characters. I couldn’t help smiling darn near the whole time I was sitting there because the conversations (several at the same time) were just so damn funny and entertaining. I felt like I was in a movie.

It was the most enjoyable evening of poker I can remember. At about 2 am I said I had to leave because I had an early golf tee time, which immediately launched the topic of why the “early tee time” excuse is not just the best excuse to leave a game, but that it is completely untouchable, unlike the wife/airport/party/tired/stuck-last-night/grandkids/dinner excuses which never really fly. Golf rules (almost) all in the Coachella Valley.

And now I’m back from vacation to Los Angeles where I can enjoy the inane and insane table ramblings about bad beats, unlucky dealers, new set-ups, table changes, lucky rivers and extra shuffles -- all spoken in some Southeast Asian or Persian language I don’t understand.